Internal combustion engines having fully variable valve controls are known, for example, in the form of an electro-hydraulic valve control.
Furthermore, German patent publication 198 46 111 discloses a method for increasing the torque of an internal combustion engine. The throttle flap in the intake manifold is closed at the beginning of an intake operation of the particular cylinder so that a post-charging effect, which increases the torque, occurs also at low engine speed. The throttle flap is again opened after a delay time. The delay time is so dimensioned that a pressure wave, which arises in the intake manifold because of the closing of the throttle flap, reaches one or several inlet valves present on the cylinder directly in advance of their closing and effects a post-charging of the cylinder.
Furthermore, the vehicle Eunos 800N is known, for example, from the Mazda Company which has an engine configured as a Miller engine. Here, the compression stroke of the engine is shortened wherefrom a low compression ratio and a high expansion ratio result.